Colorado Rockies morning after: The grade book on home opener

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D

• Fashion Choices – The cold weather resulted in a few interesting outfits from Rockies players. There were a couple true men out there, like Scott Oberg and Bryan Shaw who went sleeveless. Brave or stupid? You make the call. Everyone else was in sleeves and many had the full masks that cover the entire face minus the eyes. My favorite however, was Ian Desmond, who played several innings at first base, with a purple Rockies beanie OVER his hat. I didn’t know that was legal, but he had the beanie’s CR logo lined up in front and he looked like the only smart one out there all of a sudden. The team gets a D for not following Ian’s lead.

F

• The Weather – No doubt about this one. In fact, I had it filled out before the first pitch was even thrown. 27 degrees at first pitch marked the second coldest temperature for a first pitch in Coors Field history, behind a 23 degree night against, go figure, the Braves in April of 2013.
• Starting Pitching – I don’t want to come off as too harsh here. I realize pitching in that kind of cold is undoubtedly difficult, but it should also be tough on the hitters. Not much was tough on the Braves batting order today, with German Marquez getting dinged for 7 earned runs on 7 hits and 4 walks in just 4.2 innings.

The Rockies will look to even this three game set against Atlanta today at 6:10 MT, when Chad Bettis will take on Anibal Sanchez in game 2.